No one is TRULY SELF TAUGHT

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 I've always felt that the term "Self-taught" was quite an odd one. To me, it seems to be a very unnecessary way for an artist to classify themselves. In my (often pessimistic) mind, there's only three reasons why someone would make a point to title themselves as a "Self Taught artist" and only one of them seems valid. Option 1: My art is very impressive, therefore saying I am "Self Taught" is a flex. Option 2: I have a non-conformist mindset and I think that going to art school makes someone a less authentic creator. Or Option 3: My art is good and I want others to know that they don't need to be able to afford traditional schooling to make good art. You can decide which option I think is valid. 

Photo by Deeana Arts from Pexels

Another reason I feel odd about people calling themselves "Self Taught Artists" is that that title is so ambiguous. Is being self taught as simple as not pursuing a degree in fine arts? Don't many of us fall in love with art because of that quirky art teacher that taught us about painting in 5th grade? With the advent of art tutorials on YouTube and the infinite resources on the internet, can anyone truly call themselves "Self Taught"? 

Photo by Thirdman from Pexels

On the one hand I feel like this push for so many artists to call themselves "Self Taught" is good for art because it encourages artists that have already ruled out art school as a possibility and lets them know that art is about passion, not money. I like that artists have created a community that is not elitist (In the sense that you don't need to have a degree to be respected). I can also understand what people mean in that they learned and developed their art styles without the help and direct instruction from a teacher. And as someone who can't stand popular media or ideas, I can totally get onboard with feeling like going to art school is too mainstream and in a way changes the kind of art someone makes.

But on the other hand, this sort of classification can easily be used as a point to make those who chose to study art feel bad about their decisions and skill level. I also feel that calling yourself "Self Taught" is sort of insulting to all of the incredible artists that you inevitably learned from and continue to learn from on an almost daily basis on the internet. In theory, you can only truly be self taught if you grew up in the woods without the influence of popular media and ideas.  

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